Guest guest Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 Don't shelve Saraswati Project-II Indus-Saraswati civilisation is Vedic history This is an open letter to the Prime Minister by former Cabinet Minister Jagmohan on the National Culture Policy. First part of this letter was published in the Organiser dated May 28, 2006. The last nail in the coffin of invasion/migration theory has been hammered by the recent genetic studies. These studies have been conducted by the scientists in Calcutta in collaboration with the scientists of other countries. The scientists have analysed the Y— Chromosomas of 936 men and 77 castes. They have referred to the work of the international research teams who have found that the earliest modern human arrived in India from Africa, trudging along the Indian Ocean coast about 60,000 years ago. In conclusion, they have said: "Our findings suggest that most modern Indians have genetic affinities to the earlier settlers and subsequent migrants and not to Central Asians or `Aryans', as they are called." Nature of Harappan/Saraswati-Indus civilisation When in 1922, discovery of Harappan civilisation was made, only two major settlements—Mohanjodaro and Harappa—had been excavated and that too partially. On the basis of these partial excavations, views were formulated about the origin of this advanced urban civilisation. It was given out that its roots lay in Mesopotamia. Mortimer Wheeler asserted: "The idea of the city as a way of life came to India from Mesopotamia." But the subsequent identifications and excavations of more Harappan sites have shown that these views and assertions were made without adequate evidence. No consideration was shown to a number of stark facts. Neither at Harappa nor at Mohanjodaro, there was any sign of `ziggurat temple, or dynasty or royal grave or any other item of monarchic rule. The lay-outs of these two cities and other features differed from those of Mesopotamia cities. The trade connections, undoubtedly, existed between the two regions during the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2380 BC), as is proved by the existence seals of Mohanjodaro type in Ur. But the "cultural contact situation" has to be distinguished from "cultural origin situation". Clearly, Mortimer Wheeler and the like failed to make this distinction and were hasty in drawing conclusions. The excavation done by the French team, headed by Jean-Francois Jarrige, during the last 15 years or so, at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, are particularly significant. They have pin-pointed the beginning of civilisation in India and shown that Indus-Saraswati civilisation had no moorings in Mesopotamia or any civilisation outside India. John Reader, a noted scholar of Anthropology and Geography, in his definitive work on cities, has shown that emergence of cities and civilisation in six widely separated places around the world— Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China, Central America and Peru—was spontaneous and none resulted from contact with one another. He has observed: "The earliest cities of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilisation in India date from around 6,000 years ago. Cities appeared in Egypt slightly later. The earliest Chinese city known so far (Her-li-t' on, south of the Yellow river in central Honan province) dates from about 4,500 years ago, while those in Central and South America are a thousand years younger still. At each location the emergence of city marked the beginning of distinct civilisation; it was as though once a set of preconditions had been established, cities and civilisation would inevitable follow." Now, that over 2,000 Harappan sites have been identified and quite a few of them excavated, we are in a better position to pronounce upon the origin and character of Harappan civilisation. The Harappan sites identified so far could be divided into two broad groups; one is scattered in the Indus basin and the other in Saraswati basin. Together, they reared the Harappan civilisation. More appropriately, this civilisation should have been called Indus- Saraswati civilisation because it was really a gift of two great rivers—the Indus and the Saraswati, just as Mesopotamian civilisation was the gift of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. In this regard, path-breaking work has been done by Dr Rafique Mughal, former Director-General of Archaeology, Pakistan, who has discovered about 300 Harappan sites in Saraswati/Hakra basin in Cholistan desert of the erstwhile state of Bahawalpur. This is what Mughal has himself recorded: This survey of Cholistan has yielded a wealth of information on the cultural sequence in the central Indus Valley.... Sites of various periods, and their concentration or distribution, provided a reliable basis for reconstructing various changes in the course of the Hakra river, often identified with the Saraswati of the Vedic period.... Archaeological evidence now available overwhelmingly affirms that the Hakra was a perennial river through all its course in Bahawalpur during the fourth millennium BC (Hakra period) and the early third millennium BC (Early Harappan period)...About the end of the second, or not later than the beginning of the first millennium BC, the entire course of the Hakra seems to have dried up and a physical environment similar to that of present day in Cholistan set in. This forced the people to abandon most of the Hakra plain. Recent excavations at Sothi, Lothal, Kalibagan, Dholavira, Banawali, Rakhigarhi, Surkotada, Kunal, etc. in India, in the basins of Saraswati and its former tributaries; and also at Rehman Dheri, Kot Diji, Amri, Balakot, Mehrgarh, etc in Pakistan, in the basins of the Indus, Saraswati-Hakra and their tributaries, show that the civilisation that developed in these basins was indigenous and it saw a gradual change from early phase to the mature phase. In the latter phase, commerce and trade developed as is evident from the discovery of weights, measures, seals, etc. and also of dockyard at Lothal. The evolutionary trends can also be discerned at other sites. In Dholavira, for example, excavations have revealed, besides unique items, such as polished stone pillars and large ten-letter inscription of Indus script, seven distinct stages of development, covering pre-mature Harappan, mature Harappan and post-mature Harappan periods. The indigenous nature of the civilisation and continuity of its development is also proved by Kot Diji's excavations which show that the people in this fortified settlement were living in structures of stones and mud bricks for about 500 years before the Harappan period. The evidence of the formative period of the Harappan/Indus-Saraswati civilisation is also available from the excavations at Balakot, Jalilpur Amri, Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi, etc. The excavation done by the French team, headed by Jean-Francois Jarrige, during the last 15 years or so, at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, are particularly significant. They have pin-pointed the beginning of civilisation in India and shown that Indus-Saraswati civilisation had no moorings in Mesopotamia or any civilisation outside India. They have revealed the existence of farming communities dating back to 7,000 BC. "The horse and other animals, particularly cattle, were domesticated here from 6,500 BC onwards. By 6,000 BC, the settlement had a veritable agriculture economy solidly established. Thereafter, there was a continuous sequence of cultures, spanning 4,000 years, leading to mature urban civilisation." This shows in no uncertain terms that the process of the evolution was steady and development of culture was marked by continuity. The conclusions of Jarrige are categorical: "No element suggests the influence of technologically more advance group on the first Neolithic population of Mehrgarh, neither in the craft sphere nor in agriculture...There has been homogenous material change across the region, indigenously generated by a local process of neolithisation." It has been rightly observed: "The people in Mehrgarh tradition are the people of India today." There are marked similarities between the social and religious practices of the Harappan people and the people of the present-day India. For example, the spiralled bangles of the type found around the figurine of the Harappan dancing girl could still be seen on the arms of women in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc. Again, as was the case with Harappan women, sindoor is even now applied to the medial parting line of the hair by married women of Hindu families. The Mohanjodaro seal, depicting a seated human figure in yogic posture, with a number of animals around, shows that the cult of Saivism, which has a large following in modern India, originated in Harappan period. Likewise, the fire-rituals of that period are a forerunner to the present-day practice of performing havan in Hindu houses. Some other common features of the two periods are: the practice of worshipping trees, putting of Svastika symbol at the entrance of the houses; and the ways of greeting and doing asans. It needs to be noted that when John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler excavated these settlements, they could not go, owing to the existence of sub-soil waters beyond the first level or two. With the deployment of pipe digging technology, the archaeologists who came to the scene at a later stage, could explore the lower levels, up to the bedrocks. They found that the growth of culture at the sites was liked by a continuous chain. There was an early phase followed by a maturer phase, from proto-urban to urban. What John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler came in contact with was the later mature phase. Nevertheless, John Marshall got glimpses of evidence which led him to observe: "The (Harappan) religion is so characteristically Indian as hardly to distinguish from still living Hinduism. One thing that stands out both at Mohanjodaro and Harappa is that the civilisation hitherto revealed at these two places is not an incipient civilisation, but one already an age-old stereotyped on Indian soil, with many millennia of human endeavour behind it." Now, that over 2,000 Harappan sites have been identified and quite a few of them excavated, we are in a better position to pronounce upon the origin and character of Harappan civilisation. Did Saraswati exist? There is ample evidence that supports the view that river Saraswati once existed. This evidence could be divided into four distinct categories—literary, archaeological, geological and hydrological. Each category needs to be looked into first separately and then in conjunction with one another. (i) Literary The Rigveda mentions Saraswati, in reverential tone, about 50 times. It describes it as "the best mother, the best river, the best goddess". The famous Nadistuti hymn mentions a set of rivers, including Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati and Sutudori (Sutlej), and places Saraswati between Yamuna and Sutlej. Its origin is indicated in the hymn which says: "Purest among all rivers and vibrant, the Saraswati moves on from the mountains to the ocean, manifesting immense riches of the world..." Another hymn indicates the might of Saraswati: "This river has shattered the mountain peaks with her fast and powerful waves just as easily as one uproots the lotus stems..." She is also called the seventh `Indus Mother'. The Manu Samhita, one of the most ancient law books of the Hindus, also makes it clear that the Vedic culture originated in the Saraswati region and centered around the river. It says: "the land created by the gods, which lies between the divine rivers Saraswati and Drishadvati, the sages call the land of Brahamanas." The Rigveda provides the corroborative evidence in the verse which reads: "O Agni, I have established you at the best place on the earth, in the dwelling of Ila, on this most auspicious of the days; may you shine brilliantly amongst the descendants of Manu, on the banks of the Drishadvati, Apaya and Saraswati." Another hymn implores Saraswati to keep the misfortunes at bay: "When, on your banks, full of plants, the peoples dwell, luminous Saraswati, may you awaken as our protectress". The ancient literature speaks of Saraswati not only when it was in glory but also when it began to decline. The Mahabharata, Aitareya and the Satapatha Brahamana refer to its disappearance in desert. Recent excavations at Sothi, Lothal, Kalibagan, Dholavira, Banawali, Rakhigarhi, Surkotada, Kunal, etc. in India, in the basins of Saraswati and its former tributaries; and also at Rehman Dheri, Kot Diji, Amri, Balakot, Mehrgarh, etc in Pakistan, in the basins of the Indus, Saraswati-Hakra and their tributaries, show that the civilisation that developed in these basins was indigenous and it saw a gradual change from early phase to the mature phase. (ii) Archaeological As early as 1872, C.F. Oldham and R.D. Oldham undertook a detailed survey of the area where the river Saraswati and its tributaries were said to be flowing in earlier times. As a result of this survey, they located the course of Saraswati and its tributaries. They came to the conclusion the Saraswati was once fed by two great rivers—Sutlej and Yamuna —and it declined and disappeared consequently to westward movement of the former and eastward movement of the latter. In 1940-41, Aurel Stein, explored a part of the dried-up course of Saraswati in the erstwhile state of Bahawalpur, where it is known by the name of Hakra. He identified as many as 90 Harappan sites. In 1969, Herbert Wilhelmy, a reputed German geologist, surveyed the relevant areas and put forward the view that, consequent to geological changes, Yamuna changed course and took away the entire water of Saraswati. Subsequent explorations both in India and Pakistan, in the Indus and Saraswati basins, led to, as indicated above in the section dealing with nature of Harappan/Indus-Saraswati civilisation, the identification of over 2,000 sites. The number of sites identified in the Saraswati basin is about seven times more than the number identified in Indus basin, thereby implying that the Saraswati basin had a larger share in shaping this civilisation. The total area covered by it was about 2.5 million sq.km. Roughly it extended to Ropar in the north; Dainabad on river Godavari in the south, Alamgirpur on river Hindon, near Delhi in the east; and Sutkagendor and Mirikalat on the Arabian Sea in the west. While the puzzles of archaeology and ancient Indian history cannot be resolved with certainty, particularly with regard to Harappa, wherein script has not so far been deciphered, it could be stated with a fair degree of accuracy that the Harappan/Indus-Saraswati civilisation was born and brought up on the soil of India and its people and Vedic people were one and the same. (iii) Geological A group of scientists, led by V.M.K. Puri and B.C.Verma, have made a detailed study of the areas from which river Saraswati could have possibly originated. They collected and analysed a lot of scientific data—geomorphological, glaciological, etc. They have significantly observed: All evidence point to only one conclusion that the present day Tons was in fact the Vedic Saraswati in its upper reaches. This river was in existence during upper Pleistocene period as it was fed by glaciers that had descended to much lower limits in Garhwal Himalaya than the present day level due to the influence of Pleistocene Ice Age. Referring to the course of Saraswati, these scientists added: >From Adi Badri region, the Palaeo-Saraswati took the south-westerly course and reached Kurukshetra. From here it turned to slightly westerly direction and met the monsoon-fed Ghaggar which emerged from the hills near Shimla. Around 25 km south of Patiala, the Tibetan glacier fed perennial river Sutlej, joined this course of the Saraswati and made it the mightier of the mightiest river with enormous quantity of water flowing through a very wide channel. It was certainly the case from 4,000 BC through 2,000 BC. What made Saraswati once a great river was its origin in the Himalayan glaciers, and when it was joined by the river Sutlej from the north-west it became wider and more powerful, capable of `shattering mountain peaks' and destroying big trees. Archaeological data and radio-carbon dates show that due to seismic upheavals in the region, both the Sutlej and Yamuna got delinked from Saraswati. This, coupled with other changes mainly hydrological and environmental, resulted in the drying up5 of the river by about 1,900 BC. A team of three scientists of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, an outfit of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, carried out an extensive survey of the relevant area, using LANDSAT Imagery. In its report, the team said: A major abandoned course of Saraswati river has been discovered through the present extreme desert terrain of Jaisalmer... We suggest that the alluvium in the extreme western part of the desert was contributed by the Saraswati river, and that the sub-surface water in the western part of the desert is mainly derived from precipitation flowing subterraneously through the former course of Saraswati. Here, it may not be out of place to indicate that many other areas of the world have undergone similar ecological changes. For example, Fezzan region in south-western Libya, which was once littered with lakes and rivers, became a desert. David Mattingly, an archaeologist, and Kevin White, a geographer, have in their joint work shown that water exists even now in the subterranean aquifer. Presently, Fezzan supports a population of about 80,000 which is settled in a number of oases that depend upon water from beneath the sand. From the same source, Tripoli also gets about a million cubic metres of water daily through a network of underground pipes. Why could we in India not explore the former course of Saraswati and assess the availability of water in the subterranean acquifer? There is ample evidence that supports the view that river Saraswati once existed. This evidence could be divided into four distinct categories—literary, archaeological, geological and hydrological. Hydrological Using the technique of remote sensing, four eminent scientists Yashpal, Baldev Sahai, R.K. Sood and D.P. Aggarwal also conducted research on the subject. In their joint article, they wrote: The river Saraswati is said to have been a mightier river than even the Indus in the Vedic and Pre-Vedic times. Stein refers to the fact that in at least three passages in the Rigveda, the oldest surviving record in any Indo-Europen language, a river course has been mentioned which corresponds to the present Sarsuti (Saraswati) and Ghaggar. Nadistuti, the famous hymn, describes the Saraswati as flowing between the Yamuna in the east and Satodri (Sutlej) in the west. Since none of the present rivers obviously fits in with this description, the appellation `lost' Saraswati has often been applied to this once mighty historical river...During the period 4-5 millennia BC, north-western Rajasthan was a much greener place with the Saraswati flowing through it. Some of the present rivers joined to make Saraswati a mighty river which probably discharge into the sea (Rann of Kutch) through the Nara, without joining the Indus. After Pokharan Nuclear explosions on May 11, 1998, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre conducted a number of tests to asses the impact of the explosion on the quality of water in the area around. These tests, inter alia, revealed that the water in the area was potable and about 8,000 to 14,000 years old. It came from the Himalayan glaciers and was being slowly recharged through acquifers from somewhere in the north, despite scanty rainfall. These revelations lend further support to the above views about the `lost' Saraswati. Separately, as a part of multi-disciplinary study, the Central Ground Water Commission dug a number of wells on and along the dry bed. Out of 24 wells dug, 23 yielded potable water. In face of the above cited literary, archaeological, geological and hydrological evidences, only a scholar with compulsive bias would say the Saraswati river is a figment of imagination or identify it with a small and locked river, Helmand in Afghanistan, where there is no question of any river flowing from mountain to sea. Overall picture If all that I have said above in connection with the basic issues concerning the origin and nature of Indian civilisation and its association with river Saraswati, is viewed in entirety and subjected to an integrated look, the picture that would emerge is that the period, 6,500 to 3,100 BC, saw the growth of Pre-Harappan/Indus- Saraswati civilisation, corresponding broadly to the times when Rig Veda was composed; that during the period, 3,100 to 1,900 BC, mature Harappan/Indus-Saraswati civilisation prevailed and these were the times when the hymns of four Vedas were composed; and that the period from 1,900 to 1,000 BC was the period of late Harappan/Indus- Saraswati civilisation which saw the decline and ultimate disappearance of the surface water of the Saraswati, forcing the people to move eastward towards the water-fed Gangetic plain and work out new subsistence strategies and develop new modes of agricultural pursuits, giving rise to a new pattern of life which we find reflected in the Mahabharata and Puranic literature. While the puzzles of archaeology and ancient Indian history cannot be resolved with certainty, particularly with regard to Harappa, wherein script has not so far been deciphered, it could be stated with a fair degree of accuracy that the Harappan/Indus-Saraswati civilisation was born and brought up on the soil of India and its people and Vedic people were one and the same. This civilisation started disappearing when the rivers system underwent a fundamental change consequent to sedimentation and neo-tectonic movements whose signatures are wide- spread in the geological formations of the sub-Himalayan and the Shiwalik regions of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Haryana. The waters of Sutlej shifted to the Indus system and Yamuna changed its course to north-east. While Saraswati practically dried- up, Indus basin got additional water and saw frequent floods. 5 There is an alternative view, propounded by Dr M.K. Dhavalikar and Dr R.S. Bisht, which says that river Sarasvati was a river of lakes and it dried up due to general aridity that occurred all over the world between 2000 and 1800 BC. Pramount need Nevertheless, a lot of additional work needs to be done to unravel a number of feature of one of the most significant civilisations of the ancient world—a civilisation that remained for centuries a nursery of a highly sophisticated urban culture. Hundreds of sites in the basin of now sub-merged Saraswati, from Adi-Badri in Haryana to Dholavira in Gujarat, as shown in Photograph I, need to be excavated. It was this paramount need which the special project intended, inter alia, to meet. To believe that there was a hidden agenda is wholly unwarranted. How could there be any such agenda when excavations were to be carried out in open and whatever was to be found was to be placed in the site-museum with complementary facilities for research and study of documents by all? In view of the considerations spelt out in this letter and also the huge benefits that would have accured to tourism sector, I would request that you may issue suitable instructions to all concerned to recommence the special project and spread its net still further. I have doubt that the project, if implemented, in the spirit it was conceived, would show new facets of India's past, new initiatives of her present and new visions for her future. With kind regards, Yours sincerely Sd/- (Jagmohan) <http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php? name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=133&page=14> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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